THE EFFECTS OF VERBAL OPERANT TRAINING AND RESPONSE INTERRUPTION AND REDIRECTION ON APPROPRIATE AND INAPPROPRIATE

Past research has shown that response interruption and redirection (RIRD) can effectivelydecrease automatically reinforced motor behavior (Hagopian & Adelinis, 2001). Ahearn, Clark,MacDonald, and Chung (2007) found that a procedural adaptation of RIRD reduced vocalstereotypy and increased appropriate vocalizations for some children, although appropriatevocalizations were not targeted directly. The purpose of the current study was to examine theeffects of directly targeting appropriate language (i.e., verbal operant training) on vocalstereotypy and appropriate speech in 3 children with an autism spectrum disorder. The effects ofverbal operant (i.e., tact) training were evaluated in a nonconcurrent multiple baseline designacross participants. In addition, RIRD was implemented with 2 of the 3 participants to furtherdecrease levels of vocal stereotypy. Verbal operant training alone produced slightly lower levels ofstereotypy and increased appropriate vocalizations for all 3 participants; however, RIRD wasrequired to produce acceptably low levels of stereotypy for 2 of the 3 participants.

Praise for this course:

by Germaine Seufert

by Germaine Seufert

Anne Denning

BCBA Instructor, ACE Provider

About the instructor

Anne Catherine Denning is a BCBA and an ACE (Approved Continuing Education) Provider with Consultants for Children, Inc. approved by the BACB.

Anne has a passion for improving the quality of providers in the Autism Intervention category and is a Behavior Analyst. She leads cases and supervises RBTs, BCaBAs and BCBAs and keeps her content material relevant and based on recent research.